Canon Ixus i zoom review

Verdict:

Review Date: 21 Nov 2005

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Our Rating 2 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

If Prada were to design a digital camera it would probably look like this.

It is incredibly compact and even more stylish. If purple doesn't match your wardrobe you can also choose from black, violet, sahara and cranberry. The Ixus i design has been around for a couple of years now, but this is the first time that Canon has managed to incorporate a zoom into its tiny dimensions.

Images taken using Auto mode are usually respectable, and the minimal controls and quick response to button presses keep things simple. The Function button can be set to turn into a second shutter button automatically when the camera is held in Portrait mode, making single-handed operation easier. The lithium battery has a relatively low capacity, but the smaller screen helps give a decent battery life.

Switching to Manual mode provides access to various white balance presets, exposure compensation, ISO speeds and metering modes. However, these weren't enough to help the camera in trickier lighting conditions. Flash shots were gloomy, while low-light shots without the flash looked dark on the camera's screen and almost completely black on the PC. The Macro mode failed to focus any closer than 20cm in our tests, and fine detail in complex textures looked smudged.

This is a beautiful camera, but you'd have to love it very much indeed to forgive its weaknesses.

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